PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Adam Egypt Mortimer (read our interviews with him here and here) is a filmmaker I have come to deeply admire. Beginning with the supernatural, bully, revenge film of Some Kind of Hate (2015) to the thoughtful yet terrifying look into the horrors of mental health with Daniel Isn’t Real (2019 – read our review here) and now, most recently, with his anti-hero flick, Archenemy (2020), Mortimer has the ability to help create characters that are dynamic, flawed, and in some cases, utterly relatable. This is Mortimer’s magic.
Archenemy is a unique blend of bleak real-world strife and other-worldly personalities set in an inner-city on this earth. A drunk transient named Max Fist (Joe Manganiello) is insistent on sharing his fantastical story of being a displaced superhero from the world of Chromium with anyone who will lend an ear and buy him a drink. Max is simply a fucking mess, a man who is consumed by his past and the loss of his self-described superhero powers. A story, if you listen hard enough, is one that echoes so many of our own. Wannabe journalist Hamster (Skylan Brooks) picks up on this uncommon scoop while his street savvy sister, Indigo (Zolee Griggs), gets into hot water with her drug kingpin boss, The Manager (Glenn Howerton). Now, with danger looming over his two new acquaintances, Max Fist vows to protect Hamster and Indigo.
Incorporating Mortimer’s affinity for comic books—he wrote Ballistic, an acclaimed, limited series, sci-fi comic book with artist Darick Robertson—Archenemy utilizes well-animated scenes saturated in neon pink and blue to illustrate the other dimensions that Max speaks of.
Quite possibly an extension of his focus concerning mental health, Mortimer’s exciting genre mash-up leaves us with some questions concerning Max by the finale.
Archenemy, co-written by Luke Passmore and directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer, is now available to purchase on Blu-ray and DVD via RLJE Films.
